gregg: is there any way to know, leland, whether the rebels are making headway in toppling the assad government? >> reporter: it certainly seems in the past couple of weeks the rebels are making strides. the videos we're seeing they're better armed, better equipped, better organized and command-and-control structure and they're able to take out a lot of syrian government positions particularly in the north. now we're seeing syrian rebels starting to move into towns that are predominantly christian or predominantly alawhite towns. this will be a big change for them. they will not be able to move among a population so much in their favor primarily sunni muslim towns. as they move into shia muslim towns, alawite towns and christian towns, the populations will be pro-government. it will be a more difficult procedure to then route those government forces. gregg. >> finally, obviously you're in bethlehem for christmas and every year people all over the year make pilgrimages to bethlehem. what is it like this year? >> reporter: that is probably the most amazing thing about the middle east.